. >> let's imagine that a wonderful person, ginsberg, leaves the court. she's very much beloved in that court even by -- i learned if from your books how much they get along, she and scalia, for example. maybe he leaves. can a president of the center left like obama or a president who seems to be on the right right now like romney, can they make a 180 degree switcharoo. could they take the ginsberg seat and give it to the right? would it get past a simple majority? >> the fact is most supreme court nominations get through. robert bork didn't get through in 1987. harriet miers withdrew at the end of the president bush's term. by and large supreme court appointments get through, but we have not seen a liberal replace a conservative in a very long time, maybe 1993 when byron white was replaced by ruth ginsburg, but if, for example, the conservative -- one of the conservative justices leaves in a second obama term, that will be the world war 3 of all time because the conservative movement in this country has embraced their version of the constitution as a fun